OU Basketball: Sooners Among 16 Elite Teams in Select 2017 Tournament

It’s hardly time to turn your back on football, but the men’s OU basketball program made some news this week looking ahead to the 2017-18 season.

March 24, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lon Kruger speaks to guard Buddy Hield (24) against Texas A&M Aggies during the first half of the semifinal game in the West regional of the NCAA Tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

In case you missed it, Oklahoma is one of 16 schools, including several elite college programs, that will participate in PK80, an invitational tournament honoring Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

The tournament will be held in Portland, Ore., during Thanksgiving week in 2017. The “80” in the PK80 tournament title is in reference to Knight’s 80th birthday, which will officially happen on Feb. 24, 2018. Knight is a longtime supporter and fan of college basketball. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.

In addition to the Sooners, teams invited to participate in PK80 represent a who’s-who in college basketball. They include Arkansas, Butler, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oregon, Portland, Portland State, Stanford and Texas.

There are two teams each from seven different NCAA conferences. The conferences with two entrants are the Big 12, ACC, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, Pac-12 and the West Coast Conference. Also participating are UConn, from the American Athletic Conference, and Portland State, out of the Big Sky Conference.

The event will be held at two arenas in Portland: the Moda Center (Home to the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA) and Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The 16-team field will be divided into two eight-team brackets.

The teams from the same conference will be put in separate brackets. The teams in each bracket will play three games, and one winner will be crowned in each bracket.

How the teams will be divided into the two brackets will be announced later this fall.

The participating teams have combined for 23 NCAA championships, 89 Final Four appearances and include nine of the past 13 NCAA champions.